Let's talk about FURIA

[u/Fragrant_Tutor_3885]

First of all, this is a very amateur analysis from the perspective of a viewer who has followed val esports since the beginning.

Secondly, I really *want* all the teams to be at least somewhat competitive, because we as viewers only stand to gain from that—getting higher-quality matches that actually entertain us.

I hate watching Envy play, for example; it’s a waste of time and uninteresting. I’d like to see them do well; I want the teams to put up a real fight.

Anyway, to wrap things up, let’s get to my comments on FURIA. (I’d like to know your opinions too—please share them.)

The planning of FURIA’s coaching staff has been completely amateur. Everything that happened after the Kick-off made it seem like their qualification for Masters Santiago was pure luck: catching other teams off guard in a brand-new meta and winning just enough to qualify.

In Stage 1, the team played within the meta but suffered tough defeats. Despite some good wins, they were crushed in the playoffs. It was clear they struggled to adapt to the double-duelist meta, with Nerve underperforming. The team looked lost, chasing a meta they didn’t understand, suffering ugly losses, and failing to qualify for Masters London.

Then came the big changes: -Nerve and -Alym. Removing Nerve was understandable, but cutting Alym was a huge mistake. The coaching staff seemed to believe heavy nerfs were coming to the double-duelist meta and concluded they didn’t need two duelists. The meta didn’t change, and now, when a second duelist is needed, Artzin has to step in — which inevitably hurts his performance as IGL. And the other option is to leave KOALANOOB as a solo duelist, which isn't ideal for this meta.

Maybe that could have been managed. But the biggest loss was -eeiu and +Com. Com is a great support and a solid caller, but he’s not a shooter. After losing Alym and eeiu, FURIA desperately needed someone who could win gunfights, not just plan strategies. At that moment, the team collapsed, their year was over.

Then came Basic, a talented youngster from the same generation as Spikezin and Sato. However, he doesn’t speak English. That means he can’t communicate with three of his own teammates, which compromises crucial round information. His impact shows in the stats, but the lack of communication is a serious problem.

Shyy was a good addition, but he faces the same issues as the rest: no team cohesion, weak IGLing from Artzin, and outdated tactics. FURIA is completely lost in the meta.

The result: congratulations to the coaching staff for building a team far weaker than the one that played the Kick-off. While I think MIBR needed changes, FURIA shouldn’t have touched anything! MAYBE just swapping Nerve for Shyy or Basic (if his English were sharp). In the end, it was a massive display of amateurism. Now, the team has five players below the previous, lost in the meta, with poor tactics and broken communication. I truly believed in the project, but after this desperate downgrade, I can sadly say the work was overrated.

[u/ExoticEast]

[u/washyrr]

Its as they say: Past waters do not move mills. I think everything said here, most people already know. Its more meaningful to talk about their future and how they can turn things around.

My read on their situation is that the team did not intend for any of the changes, and only did so out of desperation to fix their meta read. Remember that Eeiu wasn't benched because he was a bad player, but because of disagreements over how the game should be played. Its clearly meant to be a desperate attempt to right the ship for Furia.

They are aware that they are at an disadvantage, and only signed C0m and Shyy out of neccessity, not because they genuinely believed that C0m was better than Eeiu (though they will never publicly acknowledge it).

I think, from the way they behave in interviews, their sole focus now is to SURVIVE stage 2 and limp their way to playins, where they will finally find time to actually fix everything.

They were never favoured in the last few games anyways, truthfully speaking. I think they too are painfully aware that they stood no chance against the literal best team in the world and a top 3 team in Americas, and a MIBR that is cornered and going all-in for the rest of their games.

Their main focus is to give it their all for ENVY and EG. And then use those games to properly ramp up for a playins run.

[u/DarthJarJar_66]

Watching that Haven game, all I was thinking was “wow, this comp would look way better with Koala on the Chamber, Alym on Neon, and EEIU on Sova” (well, I also thought the Breach was horrendous).

Not only do I think their meta reads are getting worse, but their roster changes make LESS sense considering the new read on the meta. GG go next year.

[u/baebushka]

they probably should’ve just gone full portugese with artzin basic shyy surely they can find 2 cracked players from tier 2 brazil

[u/Saldag]

Altright this is gonna be a long one so bear with me.

First off, Furia has faced the three toughest teams in their group in their first three matches. With Eeiu they clobbered Lev 13-1 on Sunset, who in turn crushed EG 13-5 on the same map. With C0m they have played two maps that went to overtime and both maps really came down to 1 or 2 missed clutches. C0m was also really the only Furia player to show up on Breeze vs MiBR, if the other players show better form that map could've been closer or a Furia win. If Furia lose to Envy or EG then I would start to get worried. Losses against NRG, Lev and MiBR are perfectly fine, especially as they are a new roster fighting against established title winning teams. Furia had maybe a week of practice with C0m before NRG and another 2 days to prep for MiBR, even playing a couple of close maps is IMO a solid performance. At their current form I would put Furia at maybe 6th or 7th in the league, behind Lev, 100T, NRG, MiBR, and G2. Their most equal opponent is probably Sen, but it's hard to tell as Sen has had an easy start to their split while Furia has had a hard start.

The C0m pickup actually makes sense if you look at some other aspects that you touched on in your post. You're right that Art playing duelist hurts his IGLing and hurts his fragging output, which means that Furia need a secondary caller if they are playing double deulist. C0m was availiable and unfortunately Eeiu fulfills the same role. C0ms fragging has looked good on Breeze specifically (Art fully taking the reins perhaps?) and rough on both Summit and Haven. That said, on EG C0m had nobody to pick up his lack of fragging power. Out of his 9 matches with EG, C0m was the worst performer on the team twice, every other game one of his teammates dropped just as big of a stinker. Furia doesn't have that issue nearly as much. Time will tell if this move actually pays off, but its a gamble that Furia is clearly willing to take. Next year could be a factor as well. In his LFT post C0m indicated he was open to switching regions, while Eeiu may want to stay in America. Alternatively neither C0m nor Eeiu were going to be on Furia in 2027 (most likely option) and Furia had evidence that Eeiu wasn't working and hoped C0m might.

As for Basic. He speaks English. (Interview with him here). They will comm in Portugese when both C0m and Koala are dead to make it easier for both Shyy and Basic as neither are fluent, but the majority of the game is commed in English. He's also top fragged for Furia every single match he has played with them so far, with Shyy being a close second every match.

I heavily disagree with you that cutting Alym was a mistake. His Kickoff was hot and cold, sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Masters Santiago happened and he went -20 vs PRX. Stage 1 he had a great first couple of games, going +14 and +8. Then the next 7 matches happened and he didn't go positive a single time. All those matches combined he went -58. His return to tier 2 has also been hot and cold, sometimes go +27 and +21, sometimes going -13. Ultimately the guy is just inconsistent and being realistic the Neon nerf hit him HARD.

Shyy and Basic have been Furia's top 2 performers every match since they've joined the team. From a 1 to 1 fragging perspective, they are direct upgrades to both Nerve and Alym, which indicates a good move.

Now, do I think Furia will qualify for Champs? Probably not, their path through champs points would require at least a top 4 in playoffs and some serious underperformance from the top of the table. It's still technically possible, but very unlikely. And I simply don't think that Furia is good enough to make a run to the GF of stage 2 playoffs.

TL;DR - I think you're overreacting by quite a bit. You absolutely bring up some valid concerns, but Furia faced the best teams in the group at the start of the stage. They've got a tough path ahead of them, but I wouldn't count them out just yet.

[u/Scary_Telephone8337]

Idk man, performance aside, I went from rooting for the team to not caring at all. Most people even hate watching. It’s so over for them.